EDIT: 2/13 9pm PT I'm signing off for the night but will check back in the morning to answer as many of your new questions as I can. I’m an operations and customer experience expert within the travel industry, currently, serving as the global travel operations manager at a San Francisco-based travel and expense management company. I oversee the company’s travel support agents and work with our revenue and product teams to ensure we are delivering excellent travel support to customers 24/7/365. Ask me about: Anything related to customer experience How to find the best travel deals Handling travel emergencies Travel industry myths and secrets #businesstravel
Hi.... how do you think the customer experience between the traveler and TMC will change for 2020?
Hi. Thanks for your question! My opinion is that there are two different types of travelers, ones who still enjoy the human experience and those that enjoy technology to process their travel on their own. We will always have a need to have human connection, for the emergency situations, last minute changes and as a travel advisor, because of this more and more it is not only about expertise but a level of empathy that those "advisors" can express in stressful situations and deliver delightful customer experiences at the human touchpoints.
Okay, say I wanted to travel to a different country every year, what are the hacks to get the cheapest flights? Also should I go for tour packages or go figure it out on my own? What are the basic dumb mistakes people make when booking travel?
This is mostly related to leisure travel, so I really can only give you a personal opinion given business travel is a whole other beast. These are my top leisure travel tricks: - Book in advance - Read travel blogs. I have found several "deals" through the following travel pages. - Points Guy Deal Alerts - Flight Deal (once found a $500 business class flight to Peru here) - Sign up for frequent flyer programs to utilize points and flash sales they may have. - I have done several tours and have had a blast! If you are traveling alone or with a small group. Highly recommend intrepidtravel.com.
I use Scott’s cheap flights too and book $300 trips to Paris and London and $400 trips to Costa Rica and T&C and other Caribbean places from Atlanta.
What are your thoughts on the spread of Coronavirus and its impact on the travel industry?
From my professional perspective, I see epidemics and global events through a customer support lens. What are the facts, how can I help my affected travelers, is there anything proactive we can do, what do they need to know, how are things changing as this event progresses. I think it's really important to have crisis management plans in place so that travel agents and other support staff have standard operating procedures to rely on in an otherwise chaotic situation. For coronavirus in particular, we recently sent all of our travelers a note summarizing the various airlines' actions. We are trying to be as proactive and in front of it for our customers as possible.
from my company's investor call today, Expedia group expects a $30 million to $40 million adverse impact on adjusted earnings in the first quarter from Coronavirus.
What’s the worst travel emergency you’ve ever had to handle?
Hi! Thanks for your question. I once had a client book himself and the family on a Canadian adventure. They did not have visas to travel to Canada and were denied boarding at SFO. We ended up working out a different route flying to Seattle and paying for ground transportation across the border because this bought us time to apply for the visas. They were able to get them in time and cross the border via Seattle. They ended up flying back home on their original return with visas in hand at the end of the trip.
Sounds made up. If you are a no show on your outbound your inbound is canceled. What am I missing here?
How often do you travel for work?
Hi. Thanks for your question! My team is spread out globally, so I personally travel quite often throughout the year to ensure I have face to face time with each member of the team.
Do you think blockchain will become a thing w/ corporate travel? If so, how can travel managers prepare for this new technology?
There have been a lot of interesting conversations going on about how blockchain could impact the supply of travel inventory and support more transparency, but the technology is still being developed. For now, I think travel managers can join these conversations and watch to see which blockchain startup starts emerging to lead the pack.
What’s the best way to get the cheapest prices for traveling? I usually end up booking tickets/hotels/excursions all separately. Are packages really much cheaper? Who would you recommend purchasing packages versus booking separately? Thanks for doing this AMA!
This is mostly related to leisure travel rather than business travel, so I can only comment with my personal opinion. Personally, the way I travel is by booking via my airline status and points. Usually with "package" deals that you find on the internet, these are negotiations that properties and airlines have with that aggregator. I don't usually find them to be that much of a cost savings and find more personal savings utilizing my travel perks through status and points.
How do you measure good customer experience?
Hi! Thanks for your question. There are tons of metrics to consider. Time to respond to an inbound request, time to resolution, number of issues we handle each day, etc. But I think some of the best information you can get is feedback directly from your customers. How do they like your product? Do they feel supported when they have an issue? Are they happy with the resolution. Listening to customers will reveal a lot.
What's the best way to find cheap business class flights outside of travel portals/points? So agents get better rates ?
To clarifyy, when I say cheap I just mean more discounted than what I would find normally on travel portals :)
Hi! Thanks for your question. There really is no real way to get discounts as airfares are all contingent on the airlines and what they choose for the fare classes to price at. That being said, you could always work with one of our agents to help look for the best routings and fares of that day.